More Birmingham City contract talks for Alex McLeish at the weekend

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish is set to hold weekend talks with club owner Carson Yeung over his new contract and feels he should be on a parity with his contemporaries after his success of the past two seasons.

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish is set to hold weekend talks with club owner Carson Yeung over his new contract and feels he should be on a parity with his contemporaries after his success of the past two seasons.

McLeish is understood to on a deal worth only around £750,000 a year after making the move to St Andrew's two and a half years ago.

The former Scotland boss is adamant that he is not driven by money and his main ambition when joining Blues was to prove himself in the Barclays Premier League.

But he would be entitled to ask for a pay rise after steering City to promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship last season and an eighth spot in the top flight during the current campaign plus an FA Cup quarter-final place.

McLeish, who is poised to meet Yeung after Sunday's game at Fulham, said: "I am supposed to be having talks with Carson about the real terms of the new contract because that has not been discussed.

"Money has never been my God. When I joined Birmingham, I told the lawyer to get it dusted because my mission was to prove myself in the Premier League. That was more important.

"But when you make progress, you look to be on a parity with your contemporaries. There is no timescale and I am not in a massive hurry to get the contract done but I am happy to stay here.

"It would be great to continue this journey and keeping here so that in 10 years time people can look back and say 'that was a great era at Birmingham City'."

McLeish admits Birmingham need to improve the infrastructure - including training ground facilities and a larger back-up staff - if they are to improve their current rate of progress.

But he is adamant he has the full support of Yeung and his partners.

McLeish said: "Stability is very important, infrastructure is very important. There is no doubt at all that we have been punching about our weight.

"We will not be able to maintain these levels without getting the infrastructure right but the board are giving me their support.

"The relationship I have got with the board is terrific and I don't understand where these headlines I have read this week about us being at loggerheads have come from."

McLeish confirmed he wants to re-sign on loan Manchester City keeper Joe Hart on loan for another season. And he believes the England prospect would not want to return to Eastlands unless he was playing first team football.

McLeish said: "I know City don't want to sell Joe but it would be good if they showed goodwill and allowed Joe to stay with us for another season.

"I hope they would recognise we have helped to improve Joe as a keeper and I am sure the player would not want to go back and twiddle his thumbs on the bench."

Birmingham midfielder Sebastian Larsson wants to bury the memory of one of his low points in football by winning at Craven Cottage.A 2-0 defeat at Fulham two years ago effectively condemned Blues to relegation from the top flight.

Larsson said: "That game at Fulham is not a good memory in my career because staying up after that was not in our own hands and we eventually went down.

"Playing in the Premier League is what everyone wants to do and going down was a bad feeling.

"We want to erase that memory by winning on Sunday and getting to the 40 point mark although we know it won't be easy and they are a shining example for us.

"They almost went down as well two years ago and since then they have done so well in turning things around and getting into Europe."